Uploaded March 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Prof. Jennifer Frey on February 13, 2020 at the University Club of Chicago.
Flannery O’Connor is one of the most celebrated American fiction writers. Yet she has often been misunderstood by the very critics who praise her. O’Connor was sometimes called a hillbilly nihilist, but she responded that she was simply “a hillbilly Thomist.” In this talk, Dr. Frey explores the action of divine grace in the short stories of O’Connor, and how her vision of grace is inspired by the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Prof. Jennifer Frey on February 13, 2020 at the University Club of Chicago.
Flannery O’Connor is one of the most celebrated American fiction writers. Yet she has often been misunderstood by the very critics who praise her. O’Connor was sometimes called a hillbilly nihilist, but she responded that she was simply “a hillbilly Thomist.” In this talk, Dr. Frey explores the action of divine grace in the short stories of O’Connor, and how her vision of grace is inspired by the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas.


